Terraplane stays and rear brakes

[thinpin]

Between mulching the garden, building compost pits and painting the new house I'm slowly building the Kirk too. One day I'll get to ride again. Today I mounted the rear brakes and found that because of the curve on the stay the brake shoes touch the stays when fully opened. When brakes are adjusted and tensioned all is good.
What do terraplane owners do? Do you add an extra spacer on the brake mounting bolt or just leave as is?

[Smiley]

happened on my DKS Hors too, leave it as is.

[jr59]

Why not drop D. Kirk a line and ask him? :confused:

This can not be a problem that has not come up before, for him.

[thinpin]

I dont see it as a huge problem, Im sure Dave will respond if he needs to. Just wondering what other folk do.

[Chance]

Just wondering what other folk do.
Occasionally it happens on regular bikes too. If the brake opens enough for the quick release and to get the tire out it’s not much of a problem. Just be careful not to scratch the paint when first installing the brake and setting it up. Unless needed to make brake work a spacer seems unnecessary and may even cause some unexpected problems down the road.

[David Kirk]

Yep - depending on the type of brake used (some are more narrow than others) and the size of the frame (larger frames have more room) the backside of the brake pads may contact the inside of the stays when setting it up and in rare cases when the brake QR is open. I've never seen this become an issue but if you feel you need more room you can place a small spacer between the brake and the brake bridge. A very thin spacer would be all that is needed to make it clear. Just be sure that the nut that holds the brake on is grabbing enough threads to hold the brake well and you should be all set.

That said I think you'll find that the only time they ever touch at all is when the brake QR is fully open. I doubt you'll find this to be an issue. Let me know if you have any questions or would like any advice.

Dave

[AngryScientist]

since i ride very small frames (50 - 52), this is the case on most of my bikes. It really is a non issue though, as the touching only occurs when the brakes are fully untensioned. Like Mr. Kirk said, no worries.

[Chance]

since i ride very small frames (50 - 52), this is the case on most of my bikes. It really is a non issue though, as the touching only occurs when the brakes are fully untensioned. Like Mr. Kirk said, no worries.
What calipers and pads are you using on the ones that touch? On straight stays pads seem to normally sit behind seatstays by at least a few millimeters so they wouldn't touch no matter how wide the brake is opened or how small the frame.

[bambam]

I have a terraplane and long reach brakes.
I built it up 2 years ago.
I think the brakes may touch when I put them on (both fron and rear brakes)but when I put the cable in and adjust them everthing was fine. Even with the the brake release open.
I haven't given it a second thought. Recently I even had the brake release open and they still didn't touch the stays. They didn't touch the rims either and that was a problem that got corrected really fast.

Ride safe,
BamBam

[thinpin]

Thanks all. I'll leave as is and see how it goes.